Federal investigations target college aid to immigrants and minorities

Washington Post

23-07-2025

The Education Department said Wednesday it has opened civil rights investigations into five universities for offering scholarships that targeted undocumented students and racial minorities, ramping up the Trump administration's fight against diversity and inclusion in higher education.
The inquiry will examine complaints from the conservative Equal Protection Project that the schools engaged in discrimination by allegedly showing a preference for foreign-born students. The schools named in the complaint are the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University.
The University of Louisville said it is reviewing the claims, while the other universities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Most of the scholarships in question offer financial support for either undocumented students or those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. Neither group is eligible to receive federal grants or loans to attend college, making institutional, state and private grants critical for their ability to access higher education.
'Neither the Trump Administration's America first policies nor the Civil Right Act of 1964's prohibition on national origin discrimination permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.
The investigations arrive four months after the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights opened similar probes into six universities accused of awarding scholarships exclusively to racial minorities. On Wednesday, the office said it is also investigating scholarships that show preference to minorities at the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha and Western Michigan.
Conservative activists and Republican state leaders have pushed colleges to abandon scholarships earmarked for underrepresented groups, arguing that the same principles underlying the Supreme Court's ban on colleges considering an applicant's race as a factor in admissions apply to financial aid.
The Equal Protection Project, led by Cornell University clinical law professor William Jacobson, has been at the forefront of that movement by filing dozens of complaints against race-conscious scholarships with the Office for Civil Rights. The group has expanded its effort by taking a look at institutional aid provided to foreign-born students.
'Protecting equal access to education includes protecting the rights of American-born students,' Jacobson said in a statement. 'We are gratified that the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is acting on our complaints.'
Undocumented students are under pressure as state and federal leaders strip away policies to support their community. Texas and Florida have ended in-state tuition for noncitizens who grew up in the states, while the Justice Department is suing Kentucky and Minnesota to force them to do the same. Earlier this month, the Education Department also cut off access to career, technical and adult education programs for undocumented students, ending a policy that had been in place since the Clinton era.